


Together Alone

by O_Sutherland



Category: SKAM (Norway)
Genre: Christmas, Christmas Eve, Falling In Love, Loneliness, M/M, Pandemics
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-12-29
Updated: 2021-02-26
Packaged: 2021-03-10 21:08:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,874
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28393620
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/O_Sutherland/pseuds/O_Sutherland
Summary: Christmas AU which takes place in December 2020 and corresponding realities.Isak has to celebrate Christmas completely alone. But someone comes to his rescue :)
Relationships: Even Bech Næsheim/Isak Valtersen
Comments: 12
Kudos: 46





	1. Days 1, 2, 3

**Author's Note:**

> English is not my native language, so I apologize for possible mistakes or bad syntax. Please feel free to point out the mistakes. Thanks a lot!  
> The settings may be triggering for any reason, I apologize if that‘s the case!
> 
> I tried to make the fic as "real" as possible, but still, I added a bit of snow to the story :)
> 
> The major part of the fic is already written, so I'll post new chapters every 2 to 3 days.

Isak was sitting on the window sill in the room which used to be his room for years. It was completely dark, both inside and outside, but he did not want to bother himself with switching on the lights, as if the darkness could completely swallow up his worries and suffering. He wanted to cry, but could not shed a single tear as if he had already cried out all his reserves of tears before. He was just looking out of the window instead, watching small snowflakes pass by his window and continue their journey downwards to join their fellow snowflakes on big drifts of snow. Join. Fellow. Concepts which were getting more and more unattainable for him with each passing day. Isak could not help but chuckle bitterly at this thought. 

The cruel reality hit him hard a couple of days ago: transmission quarantine. Ten days in self-isolation. No direct contacts at all. “A state or period of remaining apart from others, especially in order to prevent the transmission or acquisition of an infectious disease”*, he read again and again the first definition of self-isolation he found in Google. The sad thing was, that Isak could not remember the name of the guy who was eventually tested positive for Covid-19, to whom Isak had contact recently and because of whom Isak had to lock himself up at home. The even sadder thing was, that Isak might not be infected at all but still had to suffer. _This Christmas would be great_ , he kept telling himself a couple of days before. Challenges and difficulties brought by 2020 should have been compensated by a nice and warm celebration with his dad and his new girlfriend, in their comfortable house, with a Christmas tree beautifully decorated with big golden Christmas balls and shimmering lights, with lots of great presents, delicious hot punch, laughing, chatting and hugging. It did not even matter anymore that his relationship with his dad was far from exemplary, given what Terje had done to Isak and his mom, and he had never felt welcome in his new house before. The last couple of months Isak was feeling so lonely, with all that pandemics shit falling over his head and hitting him so hard that he could barely sleep at night. No, he wasn’t afraid to get sick or so, but the overall atmosphere and mood left its great impact on him. Isak was just happy not to celebrate Christmas completely alone, revelling in his loneliness, and to finally feel something like home, even if just for a little while.

And now he was forced to isolate himself. The hope of finally having someone around him on Christmas eve dissolved in mere seconds.

Isak immediately left Kollektivet where he had been living for the past six months. Both Eskild and Linn had been away for a fair number of days already, but there was still some probability that they could come back any moment, and Isak did not want them to deal with his situation. So he threw a pair of fresh clothes and school stuff like textbooks or writing utensils into his bag, and without any hesitation headed to his family house which stood empty for some time, after his mom had been placed into a healthcare institution. After all it was still his official place of living, in case some authorities would have an idea to check on him, if he were a good boy and stayed at home.

Somewhere in the distance the clock struck three. Isak jumped off the window sill and curled up on a bed where he used to sleep most of his life. A glimpse of thought flashed in his mind, that maybe it would have been no bad thing if he hadn’t existed at all.

*

He was shaken out of sleep by a buzzing sound of his smartphone. This was obviously an incoming message. First Isak could not figure out where he was, but then he opened his eyes, saw his room in the house where he was so happy till his life went to hell, and remembered everything. He shut his eyes immediately, hoping that if he would close them tight enough, he will wake up now for real and find himself in his room in Kollektivet, being in Christmas mood, happy in anticipation that he will soon be travelling to his dad’s place.

He opened his eyes again… but nothing happened. He groaned and pulled the blanket up his head.

He did not know how long he was rotting here in his bed wallowing in self-pity, maybe a day or two, or even more? He has not changed his clothes or sheets which remained on the bed since he had last slept there, and left his bed only to go to the toilet. He knew Jonas tried to call him several times and sent him a plenty of messages but he could not find any motivation to finally reach out to him. He only wondered how his battery managed not to die after this sms attack. _Jonas will never leave me alone_ , Isak thought. He would answer him later.

His stomach expressed a pretty loud wish to eat something, and Isak finally found strength to go downstairs to the kitchen. The kitchen was once full of voices, laughter and delicious aroma of mom’s pancakes, now it was empty and desolate, the furniture was covered with a thick layer of dust and the corners could be hardly seen behind cobwebs… But Isak thought it was not a proper moment to do a nostalgia tour. He rummaged through cupboards and found a pack of cereals, probably long overdue. But he did not care at all.

In the meanwhile, his smartphone let out a joyful melody. Terje was calling. Isak didn’t feel like talking to him right now. After several attempts to call him, a message notification appeared on the screen with a characteristic blink. Isak let out a deep sigh, unblocked his phone and opened the message.

.  
**Dad**  
_Isak, I am so sorry. I hope you feel good and don’t have any symptoms. Where are you now? I will send someone to take care of you. I will be sending you food on a regular basis. I hope we can celebrate together once again afterwards._  
.

Isak felt dizzy and furious at the same time.

.  
**Isak**  
_I am in our family house.  
I don’t need anyone to take care of me, I am a big boy.  
After all you’ve done, I don’t expect you to arrive and play my dad. Leave me alone._  
.

He struggled with a strong desire to throw his phone into the nearest wall. _Fuck off!_ He cried instead. He put the phone into the pocket, firmly determined to ignore it for the rest of his quarantine days.

*

Back in his room he thought that maybe he should still respond to Jonas, since he might be worrying after all. He unblocked his phone again, ready to ignore all new messages of his dad if there were any, just to find that someone whom he had never met before tried to contact him via Facebook messenger.

.  
_Halla Isak, I’ve heard you are at home in self-isolation. I am so sorry for you.  
  
You know, there was a time when I did not leave my home for many days and just stayed in bed, so I can understand you so well._  
.

Isak frowned. But then he read the last message.

.  
_Sorry, that was a pretty bad example. I can’t even imagine how it sucks. If you wanna talk, please feel free to write or call me anytime. _  
.__

____

__

Isak let out a sigh and felt like something heavy was lifted off his heart.

He looked at the sender’s name. _Even Bech Næsheim, Hartvig Nissens skole. Why have I never met you before? ___

____

____

*

Later on that day he skyped with Jonas though. They chatted for hours, and for a short moment Isak had a glimpse of impression that nothing changed and everything went like it was meant to be going. Then he skyped with Eva. Both Jonas and Eva tried to avoid the Christmas topic in their conversation, fearing to make Isak more depressed. They talked about studies and possible homeschooling, about empty streets and closed shops. _Maybe I’m not alone after all_ , he thought. He had great friends, actually the greatest ones, and he felt suddenly happy and relieved.

Then he called his mom. It took a bit of time to assure her he was doing well and he was not in danger.

Later in the evening he heard a doorbell ring. He went downstairs and cautiously half-opened the door.

“Food delivery!” he heard on the other side of the door, then someone placed a box on the porch and hurried away.

Isak went out onto the porch and was greeted by the snow falling joyfully from the grey sky. He waved some snowflakes off his face and started to carry a pretty heavy box inside. Suddenly he caught a glimpse of the doorplate telling _HER BOR Terje og Marianne Valtersen, Isak og Lea_. Phantoms of people living once at this place. He felt something clench in his chest, and he chuckled bitterly. In a moment he went inside and came back with a sharpie, crossed out all the names except his own name and then disappeared into the warmth of his house. It felt finally so right.

In the box he found some groceries for the next couple of days. He was grateful and angry at the same time. _Was my dad expecting me to starve to death if he has made it to sending me food only now? ___

____

____

*

Later in his bed, after Isak had changed the sheets being in high spirits, his smartphone informed him about an incoming message.

Isak opened the messenger. Even Bech Næsheim.

.  
_Hei, Isak! I hope you haven’t felt lonely today. If you need something, just let me know. Textbooks or so. I can bring them to your place._  
.

_Right, textbooks. I need to use the given free time to do homework and to study for exams._

Isak let out a sigh of relief. _Why haven’t I met you before?_ He asked himself again. _And why does it feel like getting messages from someone very dear, whom I have known all my life?_

With these thoughts Isak dived into relaxing, refreshing sleep, to his own surprise.

*

On the next day this strange guy named Even Bech Næsheim showed up again. This time he didn’t send messages as the day before but made one further step: he called Isak.

Isak received his call when he was busy struggling with scrambled eggs. This time he did not shove the phone aside annoyingly, but stared at the screen for a moment, not sure what to do. He hesitated a bit, but then answered nervously:

“H-hei?”

“Halla, Isak! It’s me, Even. Yesterday I wrote you, but then started to worry if you are okay, or you are sick and need some treatment?”

“No… I’m fine. And… thank you”, Isak did not know how to react to such a strong interest.

“Well, if you feel good, then I won’t disturb you…”

Suddenly Isak realized that he didn’t want to end this conversation by any means.

“Wait! Do you know how to make scrambled eggs?”

*

They talked, and talked, and talked. Morning turned into afternoon, afternoon into evening, and neither of them wanted to be the first who would finish the conversation. First Even helped Isak to prepare the most delicious scrambled eggs he had ever eaten, although he did not have any sour cream as it was suggested in Even’s recipe and although Isak managed to drop some eggshell into his dish. They talked about their school days at Nissen, Even’s school days at Bakka, about their friends, about hobbies and everything that came to their minds. Isak has never considered himself a social person, of course he loved his friends but he was usually getting tired of communication after a while and needed some time alone, but with Even… It was different with Even. Isak felt so comfortable while talking to him that he even started to think that when they finally have to tap the screen to end their call, he would leave there a significant part of himself.

*

“What are you doing right now?” Even asked.

“I am sitting on the window sill and looking outside.”

“What do you see?”

“I see trees covered by snow. I see snow everywhere. I see kitschy Christmas decorations of my neighbors.”

Isak sighed, and Even seemed to notice that.

“Isak, have you got cigarettes by chance?”

“No. Why are you asking?”

“Because I am also sitting on a window sill in my room and smoke. We could both sit on our window sills, smoke and pretend that we are sitting together, in front of each other.”

Isak did not know how to react, the thought of it being true overwhelmed him.

“You know what, after your quarantine is over, I’ll visit you and bring my best weed. We will be sitting together, looking at each other, talking and sharing a very delicious joint,” Even continued. Isak sighed, and Even added:

“Can’t wait to see the kitschy decorations of your neighbors!”

They both burst out laughing, and their laughing voices formed a beautiful and harmonious melody vibrating in two yet independent but now slowly colliding worlds: his and Even’s.

As much as he’d like to sit and talk like this forever, Even had some homework to do, and they had to say goodbye. Isak went to bed with a single wish: to fall asleep and wake up when his isolation is over, to make time run faster, faster, the fastest, just to finally sit together at the window in his room, smoke, look into each other’s eyes, share discreet smiles and make fun of this stupid Santa with white long beard and a thick bag trying to climb the wall of the neighbor’s house.

________

*Source: https://languages.oup.com/google-dictionary-en/


	2. Day 4.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well.. It's been a while. I am so sorry for not having updated the story earlier!
> 
> It's so weird to update a Christmas story almost in March! But since it is almost finished, I don't want to abandon it ;)
> 
> English is not my native language, so I apologize for possible mistakes or bad syntax. Please feel free to point out the mistakes. Thanks a lot!

On the next day Even showed up sooner than Isak could even start to worry that this yesterday’s conversation was something temporary that happened only once and remained within one single day, and when the clock struck twelve, both of them returned to their own worlds, as if they have never met before.

After having successfully beaten Jonas in online FIFA, Isak was standing in the kitchen and examining the remaining food Terje had sent him days before. He needed to cook something but his cooking skills were so poor that he could just throw the products away with the same result and not even try to turn them into something not eatable after all. He should have had some money in his wallet, maybe he could order a pizza or…

He was distracted by a phone call. He looked at the screen and could not hold back a wide smile. Even! His heart started beating faster.

“Hei”, he answered the call, trying to hide the obvious joy in his voice.

“Halla, Isak! Look out of the window!”

Isak turned his head instinctively in the direction of the kitchen window. He was almost frightened by a figure of a man standing outside near the window.

It was a bright, a very bright day, with snow reflecting the sunrays, so that Isak could not help narrowing his eyes. It was so sunny outside that the figure seemed a mere dark silhouette at first, but Isak still could distinguish Even’s features. Isak saw Even only on pictures before: Even sent him some funny images of himself during their conversation of the previous day, and Isak spent the next morning lying in his bed and scrolling through the photos in his Facebook. Then he found his Instagram and viewed his photos there, not daring to like any of them or start following him. Even if he could see Even only in 2D before, he couldn’t resist admiring his appearance, his beautiful features, his blue eyes, sometimes looking seriously, sometimes so narrow when he was smiling widely; of course his smile, his open, genuine smile with full lips and a row of white teeth. Once Isak caught himself staring at his lips for a bit longer than intended, so he flushed immediately and switched to the next photo. At the end of his photo trip he was sure Even was not only the kindest, loveliest and funniest person he had ever met, but also the most handsome one.

But now, standing in the middle of the kitchen, with Even on the other side of the kitchen glass, Isak was looking at his face, his eyes, his lips, and was bewildered at the fact that in real life Even looked thousand times more attractive than on any photo. He felt his heart started racing at this thought, and an obvious blush have probably crept onto his cheeks.

“Isak, are you okay?” Even’s words returned Isak to reality.

Even was looking directly at Isak and waving to him, smiling widely. Isak slowly approached the window, returning his gaze, looking into Even’s eyes.

“Even? W-what are you doing here?” he was more than surprised.

“I am sorry if I disturbed you from something important, I was just passing by, thought that since it is a lunchtime and you must be hungry, and yesterday you told me your dad delivered some beef, potatoes and vegetables, so you can cook the best lapskaus…”

“Laps-what?” Isak asked, pretty confused.

“Lapscaus! Wait, have you seriously never heard of it before?”

“Well, maybe…”

“Nevermind! I swear you will beg for more after you try this..”

“Even, yesterday you heard me swearing over making scrambled eggs. Can you imagine me cooking something more difficult?”

“Isak, let me help you! I know a very good recipe, I inherited it from my grandma…”

“Even, what the hell are you talking about? How are you supposed to help me if I am not allowed to have any contacts now? You can’t just step into my kitchen as if nothing happened,” Isak stared at him blankly.

“Look, we cannot talk to each other at close range because of aerosols, in case you might be infected. But if we talk on the phone with me standing here outside, to the other side of the window, it can work out!”

Isak rolled his eyes but did not object.

“I can observe the kitchen pretty well from here, I see the stove and I can guide your hand!” Even continued, smiling. Isak could not help smiling back.  
“By the way, Isak, nice to meet you in person! I saw you at school many times but it’s so nice to see you so cute and cozy…”

Isak hurried to turn away, he could not let Even see his blush and embarrassment. He cursed himself for not having combed his hair this morning. Thanks lord he took shower and changed his clothes at least!

Maybe someone passing by would consider it as extremely creepy: a man is peeping into someone else’s window while talking on the phone, but for Isak it was something like a very exciting and funny game, a new way of communicating yet unexplored and tempting at the same time. Moreover, Isak was not breaking any rules, so has there really been any problem?

The next half an hour Isak spent cutting vegetables, peeling potatoes, cooking meat under thorough guidance of Even. His phone was put on speaker for a while already and was now lying on the countertop.

“Now you need to bring the stew to the boil. Make sure you don’t stir too often!”

Isak usually hated cooking, leaving it to Eskild or some of his friends who visited him in Kollektivet. Having wasted food once or twice, he stopped trying to learn. Now he was doing something he avoided for so long, and had so much fun in process, so that he didn’t even mind repeating it someday.

After everything was ready, Isak took two bowls out of the cupboard and filled them with the freshly cooked lapskaus.

“What? Isak, no no.. I have to go, my mom has definitely cooked something and will get angry if I come home full.”

“Even, you escape without trying it and telling me if I did well?”

Even gave up very quickly, sending Isak one of his thousand smiles through the window glass.

Isak disappeared behind the door, and soon the front door opened quickly, and a tray with steaming bowl and a spoon appeared on the porch.

Even took the bowl, returned to the window and started sending delicious bites in his mouth one by one. Isak was standing at the countertop in the kitchen, doing the same, reflecting Even’s actions. 

He was so impatient to know what Even thought about his cooking but did not dare to rush things.

“Mmmmm…”, Even finally let out a satisfied moan, “I have to say, I am amazed by your cooking! A young cook trainee Isak Valtersen earns three Michelin stars!” and both of them burst out with laughter.

Isak suddenly froze, as if he remembered something.

“Even! You are standing in cold for so long, you must be freezing!”

Even tried to object, but soon a thermos flask with hot fragrant tea with mint leaves landed onto the porch.

Soon it turned dark, and the neighborhood was sparkling with shimmering blue, red, green lights of Christmas decorations, and two boys were still standing on both sides of the kitchen window, holding their phones at their ears with one hand and with cups in the other hand, one of them in the warmth of the inside, the other one in cold, warmly dressed, with clouds of steam leaving his mouth while talking. They were looking at each other, exchanging smiles, and each time when Isak came up too close to the glass, tiny bubbles of water appeared on the glass surface, which were then wiped away immediately by his hand.

Soon Even heard a characteristic sound and said:

“Fuck… I am afraid my battery is dying. I think I’ve got to go, my mom will start worrying…”

To be honest, low battery was not a reason for Isak to say goodbye. He could stand like this forever, in silence, not exchanging a single word but enjoying every smile, every movement, every glance of Even. But at the same time he knew it was getting cold and there was certainly no more tea in the flask, and it would seem strange if he tried to keep Even for longer.

“Well, we could repeat it someday…” he said.

“The cooking? Imagine how much fun we will have after your isolation is over! But maybe you will find me annoying, standing in your kitchen and giving you orders right there.”

Standing there… Isak could barely imagine that. Feeling warmth of his body, touching him almost accidentally… _I am wondering, how does Even smell?.._

Instead Isak gave him a big smile.

“Thank you Even… for everything. Come back home safe.”

*

Later on, lying in the bed, Isak was thinking that maybe his quarantine was not so bad after all.


End file.
